


forever, if i could

by yehetxo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Kinda, M/M, but don't get it twisted, chenle is babie, it gets soft tho dw just read it, pastel??? ish??? jisung, skater! chenle, this is a mess but i wrote it in 4 days forgive me, uh so chenle gets mugged but not really just a warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 19:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19340764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yehetxo/pseuds/yehetxo
Summary: but it's all worth it in the end, he always says, because after all of it he gets to be with Jisung and forget about the chaos of his crazy world.--or Chenle crosses town to go visit his boyfriend every Saturday, but this time things don't go quite as planned.





	forever, if i could

The wind tousles Chenle’s faded purple hair as he skates on the sidewalk.

The street is nearly empty, as it weirdly always is, and the parked cars lining the road are old and rusted as can be, but he isn’t paying attention to how sketchy the street is. His infectious good mood overpowers the dingy smell and rotting wood porches.

Chenle breathes the cigarette fume-heavy air in delight as he rounds a corner, big white shirt lightly billowing as he makes his way to his destination.

He grips his messenger bag, slung over his shoulder and heavy with a rectangular _something_ straining against the lining. He checks his watch (Apple, series four of course) reading 1:09, and shrugs. He’s a little late, as per usual, but he decides not to take his time today and uses his right foot to pedal himself forward, picking up the pace.

Saturday has finally come, the most important day of the week for Chenle, because he can finally see his favourite person without risk of others finding out.

Why, you might ask, would people finding out be bad? Well, if you live in a society like his where being gay is practically a crime, not to mention how his parents would greatly disapprove of dating _anybody_ , not just a boy, from the _“slums of the city”_ , there’s no telling what would happen to him if somebody else knew.

He isn’t out yet, not even to his closest friends, and risking his current happiness does not sound like a fantastic idea yet. The fear of being outed follows him wherever he goes, the fear of losing control of his already imperfect life, but he can tough it out for the time being, as long as he has his boyfriend to get him through it all.

Which is why he’s here, on his skateboard, on a cloudy Saturday afternoon, trying to see his boyfriend of six months. This is the only time he really _gets_ to see him.

He has navigated his way through the narrow streets many times before, so this neighbourhood is etched into his subconscious at this point and he turns corners and passes houses without even giving them a second glance. He has to come here on his skateboard, because if he took an uber his parents would just track purchases and he isn’t legally allowed to drive his new car yet, so he’s always late to their designated meeting time every week.

But it’s all worth it in the end, he always says, because after all of it he gets to be with Jisung and forget about the chaos of his crazy world.

Chenle slows down, though, once he passes a convenience store just as his stomach begins rumbling. He could go for some sweet chilli heat Doritos right about now.

He hops off his board and picks it up with one hand, gazing up at the flickering store sign. “ _DALE’S CHIPS AND MILK”_ It reads, along with a _“99c SODA INSIDE!”_ in a tiny blurb on the bottom right corner. _An odd combination to name your store,_ Chenle thinks, eyes narrowing at the thought of eating chips and milk together. Nonetheless, he shrugs and pushes the door open with his free hand.

The door emits a cheerful chime as it opens, signalling to the cashier and other customers someone new has arrived. He flips his bag open and checks for his wallet, pressed against the gift inside tightly. He really should have brought a bigger bag. Tugging on the zipper, enough of it gives in so Chenle can pull it out and count his coins as he looks for the chip aisle.

A pair of older looking men are sharing the aisle space with him, he notices, one with an interesting buzz cut and disturbing patch of a two-headed snake on the back of his leather jacket, and the other with a greasy mop on his head, but the same patch tattooed on his neck. They eye his wallet at the same time, and Chenle holds it closer to his chest and squeezes past them to pick up the God sent chips.

He smiles at the cashier — seemingly not Dale and actually a pleasant elderly woman who compliments his hair —, and pays for the food as well as an orange Fanta (not ninety nine cents, what a bunch of liars), because the fridge was right there and he couldn’t resist. Waving at the woman, he exits the store with the chips and drink in his bag, ready to share them with Jisung once he arrives.

He freezes however, when he hears the shop door ring immediately after he left. Turning around, he sees the same two men from the chip aisle, glaring at him with purpose. His heart sinks to the pit of his stomach, recognizing this feeling as fear.

Quickly, Chenle tries to avoid a future bad situation and places his skateboard on the ground to take off hastily, but he expectedly doesn’t get the chance as Tattoo Guy grabs hold of his board.

“Hey kid, nice board you got here, d’you know where I could get one like this?” He asks, his voice deep and gravelly.

Chenle sighs. He is not in the right state of mind to live out every generic action movie ever. “Sorry, it’s custom design. I’m sure you can get something like this at any old skate shop, though.”

Tattoo Guy steps closer to him, right into his personal space bubble and effectively sending his heartbeat skyrocketing. “What a pity, it’s really sweet. Sucks you won’t get to ride it again.”

“Huh?”

Buzzcut steps forward as well, inserting himself into the conversation, “He means it’s his now, kid. Now fuck off before we take your wallet, too.”

There’s no use fighting these men, they’re twice his size and presumably have experience in this sort of thing, so Chenle sadly turns around and walks away before more things get stolen from him.

He crosses the street, and all seems jolly until he feels something pulling at the back of his shirt and dragging him into a lane way. He is pushed onto the bricks on the back of the convenience store and sees Tattoo Guy looming over him, caging him in with his hands on either side of his shoulders.

“Kids are so stupid, you really thought we’d just let you go?” He says, a glint of humour in his expression.

Thousands of alarms are simultaneously going off in Chenle’s brain. “I gave you my board and fucked off like you told me to, what do you want from me?”

“Woah, watch your attitude, kid. Who do you think you are, huh?” Tattoo Guy asks, and gestures for Buzzcut to step forward. “What are we gonna do with him, this little shit thinks he can talk back to us!” 

“Wait, wait look I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“

“Shut up!” Buzzcut interrupts, delivering a harsh blow to Chenle’s stomach with his fist. All the air in his lungs comes out in a silent huff, and he wheezes as he sinks down to the floor.

“Not so fast,” A large hand comes up to hold the base of Chenle’s neck, keeping him from further sliding down the wall. “We didn’t tell you to sit, kid.”

His wheezes to regain his oxygen supply are abruptly cut off, and he rapidly taps the wall as a sign of surrender. The men don’t seem to want to let him go, though, and he hears Buzzcut growl “We should teach him a lesson, don’t you think?” before he feels him punching his right cheek. This is going to leave a nasty bruise. His head snaps to the left, and he aggressively sputters and coughs to get some air in his lungs. It is to no avail, because one of them is uppercutting his jaw and forcing his head back up.

 “Look at me, kid. Show some respect!” Tattoo Guy says, and grabs his chin to force it in place.

Both his hands are occupied now, and Chenle takes this as a golden opportunity to get out of here. He harshly lifts his knee and hits Tattoo Guy right in the groin, the latter groaning and loosening his grip on him. Chenle shoves him off and immediately begins gasping for air, holding his throbbing right cheek in pain.

He has no time to recover, because Buzzcut is still perfectly fine and glaring at him intently. Without thinking, he pushes his chest hard, sending the man flailing backwards and giving him a fraction of a window to race out of the laneway and back on the road to Jisung’s.

He doesn’t stop running the entire way there, afraid the muggers will catch up to him and do something even worse, and bolts up the creaky stairs on Jisung’s paint-chipped front porch.

Chenle stands in front of his door for a good minute, hands on his knees and panting heavily. He remembers the orange Fanta he bought, probably shaken from the running, and takes it out to soothe his dry throat. He twists the cap open and some of the drink comes erupting out from being agitated too much, but that is the least of his worries right now as he lifts the bottle to his lips and takes a long swig. The Fanta spills onto his chin as he drinks, and he winces when it drips onto a cut on his jaw. Twisting the cap back on, he carefully wipes the Fanta off the cut, hissing when his hand makes contact with it.

He nestles the drink back into his bag and finally knocks on the door, lightly rapping against the wood with his knuckles.

The door opens not long after, and reveals the boy he went through literal hell to see. Jisung stands in the doorway, messy brown hair lightly grazing his eyelashes and lips pouting from being rudely awakened. His figure is engulfed in a pale pink sweatshirt, a little too big for him even though he’s quite tall, and his worn baby blue jeans are ripped in just the right places and stop at around his mid calf, his legs too long to fit. He looks effortlessly beautiful, and Chenle can’t help but stand and stare like an idiot.

Soon enough, Jisung’s expression abruptly switches to one of alarm once he sees Chenle’s condition. “Chenle? What the f—oh my god get inside now!”

Chenle snorts. “Nice to see you too, babe. My day was great, thanks for asking!”

Jisung rolls his eyes in fake irritation, grabbing his wrist and lightly pulling him inside.

He takes him up the narrow, carpeted stairway and into his bedroom with haste. “Sit,” He says, pointing at his twin bed pushed to the back corner. The bright yellow sheets were wrinkled from use and the mattress has always been a little too springy, but Chenle does as he is told and crosses his legs obediently.

“It’s not as bad as you’re probably thinking!” Chenle attempts to reason as he watches Jisung exit the room, and promptly return with a wet cloth and bandages.

“Not as bad as I’m thinking—there’s a giant handprint on your neck!” He retaliates, face contorted in worry.

“There is? Ew, that’s so gross.”

Jisung sighs and sits down next to the shorter, bringing a gauze pad to the cut on his jaw and placing the wet cloth over it. “Hold this there for a second, — Okay, now you’re going to tell me everything that happened, play by play.”

“But—“

“No buts! Start talking right now.”

Chenle shrugs and averts his gaze. “It wasn’t that bad, I was just going to pick up some chips and there were some creepy dudes in there with me and took my skateboard! Then they tried to mug me in a laneway but I got away, now here we are.”

“I’m sorry, you got _mugged???_ ” Jisung’s voice raised slightly as he kept talking.

“Only a little bit!”

“That’s not how getting mugged works!”

“But it wasn’t that bad!”

“You’re bleeding, genius!” Jisung says, exasperated. He carefully removes the cloth and replaces it with a clean bandage, securing it to the wound. “Does it hurt when I do this?” he asks, and gently pokes the print on the base of Chenle’s neck.

Chenle winces, clearing his throat to cover it up. “No?”

Jisung shakes his head, “Okay, I’ll be mindful...you’re so stupid, you know that?”

“Okay, rude.” 

“Shut up—I told you to stop coming here...and that you could get hurt if you don’t stop…but you just never listen!”

Chenle lowers his gaze, “I can’t just never see you again...and we both know you can’t just waltz up to my part of town, so this is the best we’ve got and I’m okay with that.”

“Why? The only thing this place has done for you is getting you hurt...you shouldn’t have come, people here—they aren’t good people.”

“But you are,” Chenle replies, bringing his hand to rest on Jisung’s shoulder. “I’m not going to stop seeing you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. This was just a…..a surprise misfortune, I guess. I’ll be more careful next time.” 

“Chenle—“

“You can’t change my mind!”

“But I-“

“Nope!!” Chenle says, finalizing his statement.

Jisung weakly moves to grab the other’s small hand with his large one, intertwining their fingers and bringing their joined hands to rest on his thigh.

“I don’t deserve you…” He mumbles.

Chenle’s gaze softens, and lifts Jisung’s chin to meet his eyes, “Hey, don’t say that! You deserve me and so much more, okay?”

Jisung shakes his head, “Next time, let me know when you’re coming and I’ll protect you.”

“Ooooh, my big bad boyfriend who’s scared of ants will come save me!”

“You’re scared of them too!” Jisung whines, unable to stop the small smile that spreads across his face.

His grin must be contagious, because Chenle starts smiling too. “I guess we’re both wimps then.”

“Speak for yourself, not me!”

Chenle laughs, expression radiating fondness, “Anyways, I’ve got Doritos if you want to share?”

“Hell yeah.”

He grabs his messenger bag and pulls out the Doritos and Fanta, nearly forgetting about the gift that accompanied them.

“Oh right, I have a gift for you!” Chenle says, hiding it behind his back.

Jisung raises an eyebrow, “It’s not my birthday? Why?”

“Can’t I just be a good boyfriend?” He asks, feigning offence. “Here, I got you this.”

Chenle hands him a crimson red book, hardcover and extremely thick, with _“Economy and Statistics: A Guide to Business”_ printed on the front in yellow. A strange book to give to your boyfriend, one might think, but the way Jisung’s face lights up says otherwise.

“You didn’t—oh my god?”

“I um, I remember you saying you really wanted it, like a million times, but you couldn’t get it because it’s like seventy dollars plus tax but I saw it in a bookstore window yesterday and thought of you? Besides, I know how much you want to get out of this place...maybe you’ll learn something and become a fancy CEO then _I’ll_ be the poor one.” He says, scratching the back of his neck.

Jisung takes the book from him and Chenle could have sworn his smile was brighter than a thousand stars when he looked at him. “This is why you came over and got yourself mugged?”

“Maybe.”

The former shakes his head, smile still bright. He places the book next to him and scoots closer to Chenle, hand gripping his moving to rest on Chenle’s waist instead. With the other, he grabs the back of his neck and pulls him closer, not hesitating to press his lips to the other’s. 

Chenle accepts the kiss eagerly, quick to slide his arms around his neck and tilt his head at a slight angle, allowing for more access. It’s a little lazy and a little slow, but neither seems to care. This is the only time they truly get to themselves, and shut out everything else, and taking advantage of it is the only thing to do.

Without breaking contact, Jisung grabs Chenle’s hips and pulls him onto his lap, so his thighs straddle his own. Sliding a hand under Chenle’s huge shirt he’s pretty sure he stole from his closet, he gently traces the skin on his hip bone with his thumb and delights in the other’s soft hum in response.

Unfortunately, Chenle slowly pulls away, letting Jisung lightly tug on his lower lip before fully separating. “Sorry, have to stop. Cheek started hurting,” he says, bringing a hand up to hold it for emphasis.

“Oh—right, sorry I got—ahem, yeah…” Jisung sputters, embarrassed.

Chenle giggles. His boyfriend is way too cute for his own good, and it will never not do things to him.

“Thank you, though,” Jisung adds, “For the book…you really didn’t have to.”

“I know,” Chenle reasons. “But I wanted to, so deal with it.”

He senses his cheeks flaring into a lovely shade of pink as Jisung stares at his lips, now swollen, with a glossy sheen to them from post-kissing. He always does this, appreciating every detail about him while he can before Chenle has to go.

“You’re beautiful like this,” He states, lightly cupping chenle’s non-bruised cheek with one hand. Chenle leans into the touch, cheek squishing against his hand like a giant marshmallow.

“Shut up,” He replies, suddenly becoming shy. He normally isn’t the type to get embarrassed like this, but he can’t help but feel like a schoolgirl in some drama every time Jisung compliments him.

“No, I’m serious! You’re really pretty...even when you aren’t trying…”

Chenle smiles, careful not to smile too wide to be mindful of his bruise. He feels his face heating up as Jisung continues to look at him, eyes full of an emotion he can’t quite describe. Full of real adoration Chenle can feel come off of him. A warm, fuzzy feeling, he doesn’t want to let go of.

“I didn’t know you were this corny.” He teases, lightly swatting Jisung’s shoulder.

“Oh fuck off, moment ruined!”

Another giggle bubbles up, seeing Jisung’s adorable blush appear as he looks away. Chenle takes his chin in his hand and tilts his face back towards him to give him a lingering peck on the lips, to which the other reciprocates despite his earlier statement.

“You know I was kidding, I like it when you compliment me…”

Jisung scoffs, “I know, narcissistic bitch.”

The pair both burst into quiet giggles — Chenle’s were not so quiet but whatever — and Chenle makes a comical expression of mock anger.

“Hey!!!” Chenle says in between chuckles, “Fine! I’m eating all the chips by myself you dick!”

“Wait, no I was kidding! Lele those are my favourite flavour!”

“You should have thought about that before you _insulted_ me!”

Chenle fidgets in Jisung’s grip to get away, but his hold only tightens, rooting him to his spot.

“I didn’t mean it, now gimme the bag or face the consequences.”

“Okay, okay alright,” and Chenle grabs said bag, pulling the top part and taking a chip out with two fingers. He prods at Jisung’s lips with the chip until he opens his mouth, chewing the entire thing at once happily.

“Thank you,” He tries to say, voice muffled from talking with his mouth full. Chenle laughs at him, covering his mouth until he finishes. A bad idea, because he retracts it just as quick when Jisung licks his palm, rubbing it dry on his jeans.

Jisung, now the one laughing, holds Chenles wrists and puppets his hands to rest on his shoulders. He slithers his arms around his waist and pulls him close, keeping him in a warm embrace.

He rests his chin on his shoulder, and Chenle wraps his arms around his neck, smiling at his clingy nature.

“Stay here a while?” He hears Jisung ask, rubbing his back and making him melt.

“Forever if I could, babe.”

Chenle sets the chips aside. He’ll eat them later.

“Good...now never get mugged again or I kill you.”

“I—no shit, I didn’t plan on it!”

**Author's Note:**

> eyyyyy haha so i hope u liked this?? i wrote this in like 3 and a half days to get my writing juices flowing for my other wips KLSJGLKJG but i rly like this universe if u want i can do more oneshots for this universe??? idk um thank u matt for beta readingthe whole thing ur a legend um comment if u liked it and uh stream rpm dnyl and zimzalabim or perish
> 
> also my twt is @blushljns if u wanna yell to me idk


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